Labour hall sells for less than assessed value

Waterloo Region Record

KITCHENER — A historic downtown building on King Street East that played a central role in Kitchener’s trade-union movement was sold for significantly less than its assessed value and its future is not known.

The K-W Labour Association building at 137-147 King St. E. was sold for $650,000 to 1784773 Ontario Inc., which is based out of 29 Krug St. and controlled by Trajan Fisca. When asked about plans for the building, Fisca said, “We’re not sure.”

The building was valued at $1.01 million for tax purposes by the Municipal Property Assessment Corp.

Properties traditionally sell for at least 10 per cent more than the assessed value, but there are two main reasons why this building sold for much less than that, said Stephen Kramer, the vice-president of the K-W Labour Association’s board.

The group of trade unions that came together in 1955 to buy the building has dwindled to about 3,000 members, down from more than 23,000 in the 1970s, and the association is wrapping up its affairs, Kramer said.

Secondly, the value of a commercial building is bound to its leases, and only two units at 137-147 King St. E. were leased out.

“Our real estate agent told us if we had leases for all four businesses he could probably have got us a million dollars for the property,” Kramer said.

“It had to do with the fact we were motivated to sell it as quickly as possible and also the fact that half the business space was not leased out.”

The K-W Labour Association included locals from the Canadian Union of Public Employees, the United Food and Commercial Workers union and the United Steelworkers of America.

For decades, union members met in the building to hear details about contract settlements and hold votes. The second-floor bar, complete with a kitchen and stage, has seen countless gatherings for weddings, stags and New Year’s Eve bashes. There are about 18 parking spaces behind the building.

Strike committees met in that building during labour disputes, transition teams helped laid-off worker searching for new jobs and organizers for the New Democratic Party stored files, signs and election paraphernalia there.

“And it’s haunted,” Kramer said.

“I have heard this from a couple of people — up on the third floor there is an office up there and they said some days you see somebody moving around inside of there and there is nobody there.”

That office housed the United Rubber Workers, Local 80.

“When we started cleaning it out we found a bunch of old records going back to 1938 of all their union meetings,” Kramer said. “It was really cool.”

The building was constructed in 1922 — the same year the old City Hall was built nearby. That neo-classical City Hall was demolished to make way for an Eaton’s store and downtown mall in the early ’70s.

The labour hall is one of the oldest remaining buildings in that section of the downtown. The basement is a warren of dark halls, small rooms, abandoned fuse boxes, old wiring and stairways to nowhere.

“We used to make jokes that Jimmy Hoffa was in the basement,” Kramer said. “It’s a labyrinth in there.”

In June, the building was added to the City of Kitchener’s register of non-designated properties with cultural heritage value or interest. If the owner applies for a demolition permit the listing gives the city time to designate the building under the Ontario Heritage Act and conserve it.

A report prepared by Michelle Wade, a heritage planner with the City of Kitchener, said the building includes Renaissance revival and art deco architectural styles and remains in good condition with many original elements intact.

Many years before the unions bought the building, the Kitchener Conservatory of Music was located there.

You can still see the faded paint for a conservatory sign painted on the west side of the building. George Henry Ziegler founded the conservatory, which offered lessons in piano, voice, guitar, orchestra and band instruments and music theory. It closed in 1974.

Ziegler played the flute in the 29th Regiment Band of the Scots Fusiliers of Canada, the Toronto Philharmonic Orchestra and the Toronto Symphony Orchestra. Ziegler was also the organist and choir master at St. Peter’s Church, St. Andrew’s Church and Trinity United Church from 1917 to 1950.